Bend-Redmond area still in Top 10 for rising home prices

U.S. house prices rose 1.3 percent in the third quarter of 2015 according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s House Price Index, released Wednesday, which also again put the Bend-Redmond metro area in the top 10 for the largest home price rises.

The metro area (actually defined as all of Deschutes County) came in No. 8, with a 13.18 percent rise over the past year, the agency said. The home price index increased 5.2 percent for the third quarter of the year, and is up nearly 58 percent over the past five years.

As for the national figure, this is the 17th consecutive quarterly price increase in the purchase-only, seasonally adjusted index.

FHFA’s seasonally adjusted monthly index for September was up 0.8 percent from August. House prices rose 5.7 percent from the third quarter of 2014 to the third quarter of 2015.

The HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages sold to, or guaranteed by, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“The long-anticipated slowdown in home price appreciation did not occur in the third quarter,” said FHFA Principal Economist Andrew Leventis. “The factors that have contributed to extraordinary price growth over the last few years—low interest rates, tight inventories, strong buyer confidence, and improving income growth—continued to drive prices upward in much of the country. However, as prices continue to rise, reduced affordability will be a stronger market headwind,” Leventis said.

While the purchase-only HPI rose 5.7 percent from the third quarter of 2014 to the third quarter of 2015, prices of other goods and services fell 1.3 percent. The inflation-adjusted price of homes thus rose approximately 7.1 percent over the latest year